Jose Canseco returns to Red Sox Nation -- for celebrity boxing!

Leave it to Jose Canseco to try and upstage the Red Sox on the same day that they clinch the American League Wild Card.

The Springfield Republican has word this morning that the onetime Red Sox slugger (and A's slugger, and Rangers slugger, and Blue Jays slugger, and Rays slugger...) will return to Massachusetts for a Nov. 6 boxing match in Springfield against Todd Poulton, a virtual unknown from Pittsfield. Reporter and compadre Patrick Johnson has the details:

Damon Feldman, president of the Celebrity Boxing Federation, said he expects a good draw for the event, the first the federation has put on in Massachusetts. It has staged several fights in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, he said.

The 45-year-old Canseco’s name recognition, Poulton’s ties to Western Massachusetts, and the curiosity factor of watching the famous and semi-famous smack each other around should combine to draw ticket-payers to the 700-seat hall, he said. The cost? Thirty dollars general admission, $50 ringside.

Thirty dollars to watch a likely 15-minute fight between a has-been and a who's-that? That's pretty steep, but this event should offer the kind of blogging gold that can only be found in competitive eating and extreme tattoo races. It's a chance to sit down and witness that, yes, the Apocalypse really is upon us.

On a related note, Springfield really has had a banner year for bringing in America's best and brightest. Between Jose's fight and a downtown strip club landing an appearance by Amy Fisher in July, it's pretty much all downhill from here.